Big Data is an emerging / hot topic within the W/WW industry. The concept of big data has been around for years; most utilities now understand that if they capture all the data that streams into their businesses, they can apply analytics and get significant value from it. For many years, before anyone uttered the term “big data,” utilities were using basic analytics (essentially numbers in a spreadsheet that were manually examined) to uncover insights and trends. The new benefits that big data analytics brings to the table, however, are speed and efficiency. Whereas a few years ago a utility would have gathered information, run analytics and unearthed information that could be used for future decisions, today that utility can identify insights for immediate decisions. The ability to work faster – and stay agile – gives organizations a competitive edge they didn’t have before. W/WW utilities have numerous raw data sources including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), and many more. Big Data initiatives and new data management tools will enable utilities to turn all that data into understandable, useful information that helps us become more proactive and make better decisions about system operations.

The first presentation highlights a Big Data case study where the utility feeds real-time data information into the hydraulic model for improved planning and decision making. The second presentation describes how Loudoun Water is gearing up for their own Big Data initiative.